1. February 24, 2009 Joint Session of Congress
“I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.” President Obama

2. What does this mean for Educators?
High School curriculum must be:
Rigorous
Rich
Well-rounded
All Graduates must posses:
Knowledge – English and mathematics
Habits – soft skills
Skills – teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving
College- and Career- Ready

3. 2010 Reauthorization of ESEA - NCLB
Common Core State Standards Initiative: National Governors Association
September 2009: Graduating Every Student College and Career Ready (CCR)
CCR Standards:
Aligned with college and work expectations
Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills
Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards
Internationally benchmarked, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society
Evidence and/or research based

4. Attaining CCR Level of Performance
Improving Summative Test
Good multiple choice test questions measure:
Rigorous content
Analytical skills – reasoning and problem solving
Not limited to ability to recall discrete bits of info
Measure applied skills – increase quantity and quality:
Constructed Response
Open-ended questions
The payoff for schools is the increased quality of curriculum and teaching encouraged by these formats

5. Problem of On-Demand Tests
Only one dimension of student ability is measured
Difficult to demonstrate skills required for success:
Ability to engage in teamwork
Ability to perform contextualized tasks:
Analysis
Research
Communication

6. Solution Combine summative tests with performance assessments:
Lab experiments
Research papers
Team projects
Essays
Portfolios
Demonstrations
Presentations
Exhibitions
Using performance-based measures will increase the range of skills and abilities on which teachers will focus their instruction—and decrease the temptation to teach only the subset of skills and knowledge that is included in the summative tests.

7. What kind of work is “good enough”?
Address concerns about consistency and quality:
Establish clear criteria
Develop scoring rubrics
Anchor assignments
Use assessment outcomes to drive instruction

8. What kind of work is “good enough”?
Determine skills and instruction gaps
Students and parents should know where they are – in real time
Information helps diagnose student needs
Opportunity to provide supports and challenges to accelerate learning
Evaluate program effectiveness and identify needs

9. What kind of work is “good enough”?
Use performance-based assessment
Lab experiment protocols
Oral argument
Teamwork
Portfolio
Project

10. What kind of work is “good enough”?
Make use of constructed-response questions assessment items that ask students to apply knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities to real-world, standards-driven performance tasks
Develop Scoring Rubrics for questions
“Demystify” essential components
The goal is for students to be able to apply knowledge and use thinking strategies to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information – to think deeply, thoroughly, and critically.

11. Classroom Instruction: Building Thinking
Proficiency in four essential skills across curriculum
Read and comprehend a variety of texts;
Write clearly and accurately;
Speak clearly and coherently;
Apply mathematics in a variety of settings
Demonstrate through a variety of assessment options:
Work sample scored using rubrics and guidelines
Continued practice and coaching eventually help students.

12. Your Student’s Success is Your Success
With changes to how we approach daily instruction, we can help our students develop the skills they need not only to do well on these assessment items but also to internalize what we are trying to teach them.

13. It is the process that is important
To maximize student learning potential, Encourage students to :
Explain conclusions
Outline thought processes
Justify decision making
It is what the student has learn that counts rather than what the teacher has taught.

14. The “Bell Curve”? A Pygmalion Effect
If grades where dollars and students employees, would an “A” be equal across all levels? Does an “F” reflect failure in learning or teaching? Is the class clown really a poor student?
A Pygmalion Effect

15. Assessment for Learning
is an essential and integrated part of teaching and learning
reflects a belief that all students can improve
reflects a view of learning in which assessment helps students learn better, rather than just achieve a better mark
involves setting learning goals with students
helps students know and clearly recognize the standards for which they are aiming
involves students in self-assessment and peer assessment
provides feedback to help students understand the next steps in learning and plan how to achieve them
involves teachers, students and parents in reflecting on assessment data
helps students take responsibility for their own learning

16. Assessment for Learning
Learning Portfolios
artifacts with student reflections
Throughlines
Inquiry to guide instruction based on continual reflection and ongoing assessment
Rubrics
Constructive guides for self-evaluation

17. Learning Portfolios
A collection of selected student work representing an array of performance:
Share products with others
Learn to maintain best work
See progress over time
Uses:
Accountability reporting
Program evaluation
Student progress

18. Portfolio Rules Like Grades – standardized criteria
Training, planning time, collaboration
Collect a variety of artifacts
Include on-demand tests
Peer-review
Use more than portfolio as evidence of accomplishments

19. Throughlines?
"When my students leave my class at the end of the course, what are the most important things I want them to take away with them?" How can we use what we know to figure out what we don’t know?

20. Rubrics Rubric-Referenced Self-Assessment
Are written in language that students can understand;
Refer to common weaknesses in students' work and indicate how such weaknesses can be avoided; and
Can be used by students to evaluate their works-in-progress and thereby guide revision and improvement.
Rubric Generator

21. Getting Started
Meet with your Departments to discuss standards for Assessments and Grading
Develop a Throughline as a Department and for your classes
Conduct Professional Development to learn more about development and use of “on-demand” testing
Always use Assessment for learning

22. Contact: PJ Dempsey pjdempsey@virginia. edu (434) 982-5698 Curriki
Contact: PJ Dempsey (434) Curriki.org Search: pj dempsey Teaching for Understanding Course